GLOBAL – The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the $210bn (€163.8bn) public pensions giant, has selected 11 active international equity managers to manage portfolios in developed and emerging markets.

The pools don't replace any current international equity and emerging market managers, said CalPERS in a statement.

The two “spring-fed” pools will allow fund staff to quickly add new managers and optimize its international equity portfolio. The system will commit funds to pool managers on an as-needed basis.

A CalPERS spokesperson told IPE that this “pre-selection” saves time in the long run. These essentially ‘stand-by’ managers have not been assigned mandates yet.

Seven firms were selected to manage assets in international developed markets, while four were selected for the pool of emerging markets.

The seven managers include Axa Rosenberg; Batterymarch Financial Management; Fidelity Management Trust Company; Goldman Sachs Asset Management; PanAgora Asset Management; State Street Global Advisors and The Boston Company.

The remaining four in charge of emerging markets include Batterymarch Financial Management; Lazard Asset Management; Pictet Asset Management and Robeco Institutional Asset Management.

"These managers rose to the top of the field from 48 that submitted qualifying proposals," said CalPERS board president Rob Feckner in a statement.

"We believe they will help to enhance the performance of our global investments."

Consulting firm Wilshire Associates was involved in the tendering and selection process.

CalPERS’ investment committee chair Charles Valdes said: "This is a strong group of managers and we look forward to working with them to capture investment opportunities in promising international sectors.”

In other news, the CalPERS board renewed the contracts of four external high yield managers for a period of one year. The managers include Highland Capital Management, ING Ghent Asset Management, Nomura Asset Management and Pacific Investment Management Company.

In February, IPE reported that CalPERS was looking to set up a “spring-fed pool” for international fixed income managers. The move followed a recommendation from Wilshire Associates.

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